A monument to Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes will be erected on land the TLC rapper purchased in the Honduran town of La Ceiba before she was killed in a car accident there a year ago. The memorial will be unveiled on May 27. ...

Michael Jackson, who went to war last year with Sony Music, is now suing his old record label Motown, seeking unpaid royalties and rights to his catalog. The lawsuit, filed on Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court, accuses Motown Records and its Universal Music parent company of reneging on the terms of a 1980 agreement that settled an acrimonious split from Motown by Jackson and his brothers in 1976. ...

Stevie Wonder, Musiq, Erykah Badu and Babyface are scheduled to join P. Diddy, Nappy Roots, Jaheim and Maze, among others, at the three-day Essence Music Festival. Taking place July 3-5 at New Orleans' Superdome, the festival covers five stages and will be emceed by a variety of hosts including Jamie Foxx and A.J. Jamal. Previously announced appearances by Nelly and the St. Lunatics and Luther Vandross have been canceled, as Vandross remains hospitalized following last month's stroke and Nelly is spearheading a national bone-marrow drive to save the life of his sister Jackie Donahue, who is suffering from leukemia. Various other celebrities will be involved in the "Jes Us 4 Jackie" program, which will set up nine donor test locations on June 21 in New York, Los Angeles and Nelly's stomping grounds of St. Louis. The drive will be publicized in public service announcements on radio and television. ...

AFI are shooting a video this week for "The Leaving Song, Pt. 2," the next single from their major-label debut, Sing the Sorrow. ... Alien Ant Farm have set an August 19 release date for their as-yet-untitled follow-up to 2001's ANThology.Robert and Dean DeLeo of Stone Temple Pilots produced the album. ...

After doing two movies in the U.K., Melanie Brown, a.k.a. Scary Spice, has relocated to Hollywood to advance her film career. "I did a BBC drama, where I play a very loose woman, to put it that way, so maybe something more straight this time," Brown said of the sorts of roles she is looking for. When asked the odds of a Spice Girls reunion, she said, "I doubt it. Maybe when we're like 40." ... Rev Run will double as Father Fashion when his Run Athletics clothing company launches its men's active wear line in the fall. The urban outfits will consists of T-shirts, fleece wear, caps and jogging suits. ...

This fall, shooting begins on the film "Miss June," a new adaptation of William Shakespeare's "Macbeth," starring Courtney Love as Lady Macbeth. The movie will be produced by Luc Besson and directed by Vincent Regan. ... June Carter Cash, wife of Johnny Cash and member of pioneering country group the Carter Family, is in critical condition in a Nashville hospital following complications from heart surgery on Wednesday. June co-wrote Johnny's 1963 hit "Ring of Fire," about the couple's love for one another, and married the man in black five years later. ...

Organizers of the U.K.'s long-running Glastonbury Festival are asking for help selecting which of the main-stage artists they've captured on film since 1994 should be included on an upcoming Glastonbury DVD. Music fans are being invited to visit www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/dyn/dvd/ and vote from an extensive list of performers that includes Beck, Beastie Boys, the Verve, Oasis, Foo Fighters, PJ Harvey, Page & Plant, Prodigy, Radiohead, Tori Amos, Hole, Moby, Coldplay and the White Stripes. This year's festival, featuring Radiohead and R.E.M., among several others, will take place in late June. ...

Punk, hardcore, indie rock and metalcore merchants Reggie and the Full Effect, Black Cross, Midtown, Bouncing Souls, the Explosion, Burnt By the Sun, the Hope Conspiracy and A Static Lullaby are just a few of the bands scheduled to take part in this summer's Krazy Fest 6. Initial Records' annual event will take place the weekend of August 1 at the Waterfront Park in Louisville, Kentucky. ... Former Marvelous 3 singer Butch Walker, who has produced albums for Injected and SR-71, will work with Sevendust on the band's fourth release, due in the fall. Sessions will begin in two weeks in Walker's Ruby Red Studios in Atlanta. ... Walker recently logged three songs with Bowling for Soup, including "Punk Rock 101," the follow-up single to "Girl All the Bad Guys Want." The song will be included on a three-song EP, along with "Smile" and a cover of A Flock of Seagulls' "I Ran." ...

05.09.03

Lil' Mo has changed her mind and decided to respond to the musical barbs thrown at her by Ja Rule. On a new freestyle released to mixtapes, the singer raps over the beat to 50 Cent and Notorious B.I.G.'s "The Realest N---as": "Used to be homie, used to be my ace/ Now I wanna smack the taste out your mouth." Meanwhile, Mo's song "4 Ever" and her response record to 50's "21 Questions," "21 Answers," are getting major burn on the airwaves. ...

Artists Queen Latifah, Mya and Tyrese, and actors Adrien Brody, Josh Hartnett, Colin Farrell, Harrison Ford and Samuel L. Jackson are among the presenters for the 2003 MTV Movie Awards. The 12th annual show will be taped May 31 at Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium for broadcast June 5 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Justin Timberlake and Seann William Scott will host the show. ...

P.O.D. have started to record their new album in a Los Angeles studio with Howard Benson, who also produced the band's last album, 2001's Satellite, and 1999's breakthrough, The Fundamental Elements of Southtown. The LP, due in November, marks the first with new guitarist Jason Truby, who replaced founding member Marcos Curiel in February. ... Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin will host a candlelight vigil and prayer service for Luther Vandross on May 19 in Detroit. Vandross, who suffered a stroke on April 16, has yet to regain consciousness and remains in critical condition. Franklin will be joined by the Four Tops, the Ebenezer Mass Choir and others. ...

Videos by Christina Aguilera, Moby and No Doubt were big winners at the Music Video Production Association's annual awards show Thursday in Los Angeles. Other winners included Joseph Kahn for Rap Video of the Year for Eminem's "Without Me"; Michel Gondry for Alternative Video of the Year for the White Stripes' "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground"; and Francis Lawrence for Pop Video of the Year for Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me a River." ... Renaissance rapper Wyclef Jean has started to record the follow-up to last year's Masquerade in New York's Platinum Sounds studio. Titled Preacher's Son, the album, expected to drop this fall, will be Clef's first LP for new label J Records, home to Alicia Keys and Busta Rhymes. ...

Ruben Studdard, Clay Aiken and the other 10 "American Idol" finalists have been added to the lineup for KIIS-FM's Wango Tango concert May 17 in Pasadena, California. Kiss, Nelly and Christina Aguilera are headlining the festival. ... While there are no promises (yet) of a personal patchouli pack in every stateroom, there will be jam bands up the yin yang on the inaugural Jam Cruise, departing from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, on January 6. In addition to visiting ports of call in the Florida Keys and the Bahamas, travelers will get to noodle dance for four days and four nights to Karl Denson's Tiny Universe, the Disco Biscuits, Galactic, Mofro, Dirty Dozen Brass Band and others. More information is available at www.jamcruise.com. ...

Thirteen old-school hip-hop videos are collected on the DVD "Lyricist Lounge: Hip-Hop Video Classics." The DVD, which features Run-DMC'S "Walk This Way," Chubb Rock's "Treat 'Em Right" and Biz Markie's "Just a Friend," among others, is due July 7. ... Mack 10 just released his "Mack 10 Ghetto, Gutter & Gangsta" DVD. Besides concert clips of the Mack and the members of the Westside Connection, the release contains behind-the-scenes footage of the West Coast MC and some of his friends, like E-40 and MC Eiht. Mack is currently working on the soundtrack to "Ghetto, Gutter and Gangsta," and like the DVD, it is said to contain appearances by Ice Cube and WC. ...

Mars Volta, the band composed of ex-At the Drive-In members Cedric Bixler (vocals) and Omar Rodriguez (guitar), will release their debut full-length album, De-Loused in the Comatorium, on June 24. The disc will be an epic concept album about a friend of the band's who took his own life. ...